Suzy Says

I seem to developed a bad habit – well, I should be allowed one or two, right? – of barely getting to art exhibits before they close. It’s just like madly doing your homework on a Sunday night, even if you had two weeks to do it, because you were too busy having fun and all of a sudden, the deadline looms with frightening proximity.

I have apparently learned nothing from those long-ago school days, since I’m still procrastinating, but in a mirror image or Alice Through the Looking Glass way: I’m putting off the things I want to do because I’m so busy doing the things I have to do. And there you have it: the horrible truth about being a grown-up, even one as faux as I am, the one that they don’t tell you when you’re a kid*. And PS, that permanent record they’re always threatening you with at school doesn’t exist.

Anyway, I finally got to see the Treasures of Modern Art exhibit at MOMA – on the day it closed. Talk about pushing it! I went over at lunch and wondered why I don’t do that more often. If I lived in London and worked in the City, I’d pop into the National Gallery at lunch. Though come to think of it, when you actually live somewhere, you never do things like that.

The exhibit was great and I was amazed as always by what one person can collect and how very wonderful it would be to be a private collector. Standouts for me included Warhol’s stunning Red Liz (I’ve been an Andy fan since high school) and two Mondrians, particularly one which was still in progress when he died, showing how the artist worked. There was an entire room of Rauschenberg, among them the legendary but seldom exhibited “Erased De Kooning Drawing” and “Tire Tracks”, both made in the early 1950’s. Rauschenberg made “Tire Tracks” by taping together 20 feet of paper and placing it on the street in New York City outside his studio. He then painted one tire of composer John Cage’s Model A Ford with black paint as Cage slowly drove over the paper. But my favorite of the Rauschenbergs was the “Hiccups”, 97 pieces of fabric all silk screened with different images and in some cases collages, zippered together and displayed in a long piece across two walls.

While in Toronto, I stopped by the Art Gallery of Ontario, where I spent several happy hours. I loved the “In Light” exhibit, where the artwork included video, film, or light of one kind or another. My favorite piece was one that looked like a textured bronze wall with a flapping (and apparently real) bird wing on each side, highlighted by red laser lights. It was both disturbing and moving, as was the “Pop Photographica” exhibit.

This exhibit was an incredible collection of objects including photographs from the 1800’s to the present. Along with the usual Victorian memento moris (hair bracelets with photos of the deceased; photos of dead children with locks of their hair; one really elaborate shadow box with photo of dead man along with heavy silver coffin fittings), there were some truly remarkable objects:

1. A woman’s sewing case from the 1880’s with elaborate wood inlays and secret drawers, featuring photos of herself in the lid as she aged.

2. A sterling silver purse from around the same period with a photo of the owner’s dog on it. This was very unusual indeed – most had a photo of a loved one on them – and shows that the young lady in question had a mind of her own. I’m sure Kelly would approve!

3. A chess set with the faces of Union and Confederate generals along with Abraham Lincoln on the board’s squares. Apparently this was a huge seller during the Civil War.

4. The creepiest item to my mind: a rag doll from about 1900, beautifully preserved and dressed, but with its owner’s face. Someone had photographed the child and transferred the photo to cloth and then made it into a doll, so doll and owner had the same face. It’s a very weird effect.

If you live in or near Toronto, you should definitely check it out. Quick, before it’s too late!

*Even if they did, you wouldn’t believe it.